Connecting an International Healthcare Conference Across Languages, Rooms, and a Surge Nobody Saw Coming
Metro Media Productions had a flagship conference landing at Moscone Center, an international healthcare professionals event with attendees, sessions, and languages spanning the globe.
They needed a technical partner who could run everything happening behind the screens while their team focused on the show out front.
Conference mainstage with large video screens displaying ‘120 Years Legacy of Advocacy’ branding, staff standing on stage in red shirts
The Challenge
The event needed five separate technical systems working in sync: digital signage across the venue, real-time human interpretation connecting international attendees across multiple rooms and an outdoor evening event, fast-turnaround recordings of every breakout session, a bonded cellular network strong enough to carry it all outdoors, and a livestream reaching a global audience. Then, the night before the event, Metro Media flagged a problem: interpretation app usage was about to be nearly six times the original estimate. Any one of these systems failing meant an attendee losing the thread, sometimes literally.
Talon's Tim Kerbavaz led pre-production, gear planning, and served as onsite technical producer, while Ryan Behrmann ran a six-person team managing Zoom interpretation and breakout recordings, and Jack McRoberts of Copano Media Group brought additional network hardware and expertise. Together, the team built a bonded cellular network with 12 modems across three major carriers, six Wi-Fi access points, and a fiber truck between event areas, then stress-tested and reshaped traffic overnight to absorb the surge before doors opened.
The Details
Client: Metro Media Productions
Location: Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA
Event Type: International Healthcare Professionals Conference
Headcount: 300+ concurrent interpretation app users, multi-room general session and breakouts
Duration: Multi-day conference
Services: Digital signage, live multilingual interpretation support, breakout recording, bonded cellular networking, livestream uplink
Two Talon AV crew members smiling and gesturing toward networking equipment under a tent, with an LED video wall behind them.
How We Solved It
Every system had to work independently and together, with no room for a weak link.
Deployed digital signage across venue and temporary monitors, LED walls, and BrightSign players, including custom animated motion graphics for the lobby screens and expo projection
Ran Zoom-based real-time interpretation across multiple rooms and an outdoor evening event, connecting a global team of live interpreters to every session
Recorded and quickly edited every breakout session using remotely managed recorders that auto-uploaded to the cloud, so attendees who missed a session live could still catch up
Built a bonded cellular network with 12 modems across three carriers and six Wi-Fi access points, then scaled and traffic-shaped it overnight to handle a nearly 6x surge in demand
Ran a livestream uplink to a master control room, monitored by a distributed remote engineering team, so the conference reached attendees who couldn't be there in person
Provided backup bonded cellular networking for key sessions inside the ballrooms
Band performing on an outdoor evening stage with string lights and a ‘120 Legacy of Advocacy’ banner, crowd gathered in front
The Outcome
Every system held, including the ones stress-tested by a last-minute demand surge nobody had planned for. International attendees followed every session in their own language, remote viewers watched a stable global livestream, and anyone who missed a breakout had a recording ready quickly. Metro Media Productions delivered a flagship event that exceeded their own client's expectations, with Talon running the technical layer that made it possible.